Appeal No. 96-2479
Application No. 08/091,428
obviousness are:
Gladrow et al. 4,287,048 Sep. 1, 1981
(Gladrow '048)
Gladrow et al. 4,289,606 Sep. 15, 1981
(Gladrow '606)
The claims on appeal are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103
as being unpatentable over Gladrow '048 or Gladrow '606.
We cannot sustain this rejection.
Each of the Gladrow patents teaches a catalytic cracking
process which employs a catalyst comprising ultrastable
zeolite Y which is disclosed as being substantially free of
rare earth metals including yttrium. According to Gladrow, 2
substantially rare earth free means that the rare earth metal
content of the zeolite will be less than about 1 weight
percent. In these respects, see lines 54 through 64 in column
2 of Gladrow '048 and lines 52 through 62 in column 2 of
Gladrow '606.
It is the examiner's basic position that "the catalyst
2As correctly indicated by the appellants, a standard
definition of "rare earth" reflects that yttrium in fact is
"not a rare earth element, [but] is found associated with the
rare earths and is only separated with difficulty" (Hawley's
Condensed Chemical Dictionary, 11th ed.)
3
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